Former President Moon Jae-in said on the 19th, “There is talk that the government and ruling party are considering scrapping the military agreement,” and warned, “Abolishing the September 19 inter-Korean military agreement is an irresponsible act that removes the final safety pin.” He also emphasized, “Under the progressive governments led by Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun, and Moon Jae-in, both security and economic performance were significantly better,” and “It is time to break away from the fabricated myth that ‘conservative governments are better in terms of security and economy.’”
Former President Moon personally attended the ‘9/19 Pyongyang Joint Declaration 5th Anniversary Ceremony’ held at Building 63 in Yeouido, Seoul this afternoon, along with First Lady Kim Jung-sook. This was the first time he visited Seoul and attended an official event after leaving office in May last year.
Former President Moon, who went on stage to the applause of staff members from the Moon Jae-in administration and members of the Democratic Party of Korea who attended the ceremony, said in his greeting, “When I think of the current inter-Korean relationship, which has broken down to the point where I wonder when such a day ever happened, it is very sad and confusing.” opened. He continued, “It is regrettable that we were not able to make more progress on the Pyongyang Joint Declaration and that we were unable to reach an irreversible stage with practical results.”
Former President Moon delivered a message targeting the Yoon Seok-yeol government, which declared a ‘war of ideology’. Former President Moon said, “Starting from the Park Chung-hee administration’s July 4 Joint Statement, to the Moon Jae-in administration’s April 27 Panmunjom Declaration and the September 19 Pyongyang Joint Declaration,
He emphasized, “However, when the outdated and confrontational Cold War ideology dominated our society, the continuation was interrupted for a long time. If the continuation had continued without interruption, inter-Korean relations would have been completely different from what they are now.” This can be interpreted as an indication that the development of inter-Korean relations has come to a halt due to the Yoon Seok-yeol government’s hostile stance toward North Korea.
“Peace is the economy… Progressive governments performed significantly better.”
Former President Moon also repeatedly emphasized that “peace is the economy,” and compared economic indicators between the Moon Jae-in administration and the current administration. He said, “Comparing previous governments, the economic performance during times when inter-Korean relations were relatively peaceful was always better than when it was not,” and “In 2021, the last year of the Moon Jae-in administration, per capita income exceeded $35,000, and last year, “It fell to $32,000,” he said.
He continued, “The Moon Jae-in administration also emphasized that almost all economic indicators, including export growth, trade surplus size, foreign exchange reserves, prices, stock index, and foreign investment, were better than now.” Former President Moon recently publicly refuted the Board of Audit and Inspection’s announcement of ‘the Moon Jae-in government’s suspicion of manipulating statistics’ through social media .
Former President Moon also expressed concern about the ‘slanted diplomacy’ of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration. Former President Moon said, “If we lose the balance of diplomacy by focusing too much on camp diplomacy, we may lose more than we gain in terms of 안전놀이터security and economy,” and called for a “balanced diplomacy” and a “delicate diplomatic strategy.”
At the same time, he pointed out the need to quickly resume dialogue with North Korea. Former President Moon said, “The inter-Korean relationship is very precarious now, but the situation in 2017, when the Moon Jae-in administration took office, was much more serious than it is now,” and said he prepared for dialogue to prevent a crisis.
Former President Moon recently sternly warned against the government and ruling party’s consideration of scrapping the inter-Korean military agreement, saying, “It is an irresponsible action that removes the final safety pin.” He said, “The inter-Korean military agreement has played an important role in preventing military conflict between North and South Korea so far,” and “During the Moon Jae-in administration, not a single military conflict occurred between South and North Korea, and no one was sacrificed as a result. Among the previous governments, the Roh Moo-hyun administration “It was just the Moon Jae-in administration,” he emphasized.
Lastly, former President Moon said, “I took a little look at the security and economy of previous governments. In short, I was able to confirm that the security and economic performance were significantly better under the progressive governments led by Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun, and Moon Jae-in.” At the same time, he said, “I want to emphasize that it is time to break away from the fabricated myths that ‘conservative governments are good at security’ and ‘conservative governments are better at economics’.”
Meanwhile, many ministers from the Moon Jae-in administration, Blue House staff, and senior members of the Democratic Party attended the ceremony. Democratic Party lawmakers including floor leader Park Gwang-on, Go Min-jeong, Kim Young-bae, and Yoon Geon-young, local government heads including Gyeonggi Governor Kim Dong-yeon, Gwangju Mayor Kang Ki-jeong, Jeonnam Governor Kim Young-rok, and Jeju Island Governor Oh Young-hoon, as well as Justice Party leader Lee Jeong-mi, also filled the seats.